Police in Toledo last August freed two children who were being held by an organization that allegedly forced their mothers to work as prostitutes, Spanish authorities announced on Thursday.

The mothers, two Nigerian women, were found in the north of France where they were forced to work in the sex trade to pay off debts the organization said they owed, which ranged from 30,000 to 40,000 euros, police said.

The children, both about three years old, were found suffering from malnutrition at a home in Valmojado, near Toledo in August. They were also subjected to abuse, including being given sedatives by their captors. The children were thought to have been held for at least four months. Several people were arrested including one leader of the gang that captured the women.

The longer Spanish version of the article (here) says the women were forced to walk across Africa to Morocco, where they travelled to Spain in small boats before being taken to the Centros de Internamiento de Extranjeros (CIE) [Centre for Detention of Foreigners]. This means they were coming as "asylum seekers".